Stencil printing apparatus



l T H. P. ELLHOTT MM STENCIL PRINTING APiARATUS Filed March 28, 1933 8 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Harmon Ellwii' Swt, 3, W35. H. P. ELLIIOTT STENCIL PRINTING APPARATUS Filed March 28; 1955 8 Sheets-Sheet 2 lNVENTOR Harmon 1. Elliott JOHN DOE 5 MAN 51:

7 l 3 HENRY SMITH PLAINFIELD ATTO RN EY H. P. ELLIOTT STENCIL PRINTING APPARATUS fi epit. 3, W

mnm. 3m: ME. to

INVENTOR Harmon R Elliott TTORNEY H. P. ELLIOTT STENCIL PRINTING APPARATUS 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 28, 1935 v -INVENTOR Harman 1? EJ111011; T

W 3, H. P. ELLIOTT EJUWHMNQ STENCIL PRINTING APPARATUS Filed March 28, 1953 8 Sheets-Sheet 6 .T T w L L E P. H

STENCIL PRINTING APPARATUS 8 Sheets-Sheet 7 Filed March 28, 1933 INYENTOR Harman R Ell wit TNEY T T w L L E P. H

STENCIL PRINTING APPARATUS Filed March 28, 1953 8 Sheets-Sheet 8 INVENTOR TNE Harmon 1? Ellioll 1. mm -mN R sheets of Patented Sept. 3, 1%?5 TEE rat Elliott Addressing Machine Company, a. i

corporation of Massachusetts Application March 28, 1933, Serial No. 663,128

5 Claims.

This invention relates to stencil printing apparatus of the general character shownin my Patent No. 1,969,910 dated May 16, 1933, and comprises certain modifications thereof and improvements thereon.

The main object of the present invention is to produce a base unit for the type of apparatus shown in said prior'application which shall be in the simplest and cheapest form capable or" printing addresses from a series or" stencils, or ofskipping those not then to be used, while allowing the operator to inspect each stencil beiore it enters the printing zone to then determine his choice of the possible operations therewith, but which simple base unit may have quicklyfastened thereto any one of a variety of attachments which, when in operation, will severally enable it to do many other things in the stencil'printing line. g Thus another object of the invention is to produce a set of attachments which will do the work of the invention of another of my pending applications Ser. No. 639,171, filed October 24, 1932, and which may be easily clamped as a unit on to one end of the base unit and thereupon, with no modification of the latter other than the installation of the proper ink bearing platen sector, enable the completed'apparatus to print names, etc. in column formation on a sheet or slip of paper fed through the printing zone under control of said attachment.

A th'rd object of the present invention isv to provide a message printing attachment for said base unit which shall be easily inserted therein and be practically noiseless in operation, and which when so installed will enable the so completed apparatus to: print a message, an advertising des'gn, or any other desired subject matter upon one side or each of a series of postcards or paper upon which names'and addresses have been, or may be, printed by the base unit alone.

. A fourth object of the present inventionis to provide a simple apparatus which may be mounted on said base unit and thereupon cause the so completed apparatus to print repeatedly from any one of a series of address bearing stencils so that the name'a ndaddress cut in said stencil may be printed at'severai places upon a sheet of paper or envelope or wrapper.

A fifth object of the invention is toprovide an adjustable stencil magazine and similarly adjustable stencil receiver so that these may be arranged either to handle the ordinary small stencil used in my systemor the larger stencil removed and certain parts broken away.

, position.

away and others shown in rem OFFICE having an extension frame on one side, on which extension'classifying marks may be made, and also handle either of these stencils in a manner which will cause the printed legend to be either right side up or upside down, when viewed from r The best form of apparatus embodying my invention. at present known to me is illustrated in the accompanying eight sheets of drawings in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation with the inking unit 7 Fig. 2 is a plan View of the same character. Fig. 3 is a partial plan view with parts broken away and others shown in section, the message printing attachments being shownin operative Fig. t is a partial vertical section on the line 4-tl of Fig. 3, with parts broken away, and Fig. 5 is a cross section of the same character taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a detail, axial section of the air cushion for the message stencil carrier, shown on an enlarged scale.

Fig. 7 isa partial plan viewwith .parts broken section illustrating the arrangement of the stencil magazine for handling small'sized stencils. V f

Fig. 8 is an enlarged detail cross section on line 8-t of Fig. 7 showing the detachable drive connection for the upper sector and the cooperaton of the stencil with the rotating sectors.

Fig.9 is a partial plan View with parts broken away and others shown in section illustrating the attachment for producing repeat printing from any desired stencil, and i T Fig. 10 is a cross section on line ill-40 of Fig. 9, and

Fig. 11 is a detail longitudinalsection on. line ill-llofFigQ. I

Fig. 12 is a detail plan view. with parts .broken away and others shown in section, the guide used Whenfeeding cards byhand to the address printing apparatus being shown in operative position and Fig. 1-3 is a perspectiveview of said guide,

Fig. 14 is a rear elevation of the machine with parts broken away, and others-shown in section,

by hand as indicated at illustrating the sheet feeding and printing mechanism.

Fig. 15 is a plan View of the same with parts broken away and others shown in section, and

Fig. 16 is a detail plan View of the stencil reservoir or collector in a position the reverse of that shown in Fig. 2.

Throughout the drawings like reference characters indicate like parts. Much of the apparatus here shown is substantially the same as that of my above noted Patent No. 1,909,910, or pending application Ser. No. 639,171, filed Oct. 24, 1932, and therefore need not be described in detail. The base unit comprises a supporting frame 5| on which are journalled two rotating platen sectors connected together by gearing mounted in housing (57, and indicated in broken lines at 6 in Fig. 1, so as to rotate in opposite directions when actuated by hand crank I mounted on shaft 2, also journaled in housing 6'1, and to which the upper platen sector 163 (Fig. 2) or other upper sector 3 or 263 is releasably clutched so that it can be readily taken off said shaft and another platen sector of different area of face substituted for it.

4 (Fig. 1) is a portion of the usual ink applying roll of an inking mechanism for distributing an even layer of ink over the curved surface of the upper platen sector 3, i533, or 2133, whichever may be in use. This roll is a part of a floating inking unit (not shown) pivoted on the shaft '1 supported in a housing Mi carried by the main frame, the construction being similar to that of the inking apparatus shown and described in a second Patent No. 1,922,533, granted to me Aug. 15, 1933.

The stencils 56 for use with the ink impression mechanism are stacked in magazine 65 with the major dimensions of their stencil panels parallel to the shaft 2 so that they can be fed sidewise between the platen sectors along the oppositely grooved guides 9 and 99.

The base unit briefly above described, when combined with stencils of proper shapes, may be used as a simple addressing apparatus, the post cards or envelopes to be addressed being fed in H0 in Fig. 12, correct registration of the printed matter being assured by the guide 48 which is adjustably mounted on table 66 by means of setscrew as engaging a slot in a rear extension of said guide. With the use of various other attachments hereinafter described. however, said simple base unit may be modified to print a series of names or other legends in column formation on a sheet of paper, or to print a uniform message or design on a series of postcards or other articles, or to print any desired number of repetitions of the same name and address, or other short legend, using either the small stencil I06 as shown in Figs. '7, 9, and 11, or stencils having a frame extension 5 it: (Fig. 2) on which memoranda may be written. Also these large stencils may be fed to the printing zone with the stencil panel leading, as shown in Fig. 2; so that any identifying marks on frame extension I 15 may be read by the operator as the same appear between the magazine 61 and the rotating sectors I03 and 5, or with the frame extension leading, as shown in Fig. 15, if it is desired to reverse the stencils and print the addresses upside down, for any reason.

The sheet feeding attachment is shown in Figs. 14 and 15, and the stencil feeding apparatus is there shown as adjusted to handle the large stencils 50 so as to feed them to the printing zone with their frame extensions H5 leading, though small stencils H10 could be used by partially collapsing the magazine 6!. In either case the stencil should be thus reversed because the printing of the list should begin at the top of the sheet, and that end of the sheet must be fed first to the printing zone so that, as looked at by the operator who stands near the operating crank, l the printing will be upside down.

The sheet handling attachment is practically the same as that described in my above men tioned prior application Ser. No. 639,171, except that it is more easily removable and can be taken out or put back as a unit. It comprises a sheet supporting plate IE! which serves as an extension of the table top 65 of the main frame 51, and preferably is supported in this position by means of the thumbscrew 10 passing through a hole in the brace 68 and screwing into the side of main frame 5|. A clamp is provided for holding the rear end of a sheet of paper [3 in such position on the plate l0 and table top 66 that the forward end of said sheet will project into the open space 26 between the rotating platens when the fatter are not in contact one with another. Consequently when said sectors have thereafter rotated sufficiently to cause them to bite on the forward end of sheet 13, the latter will be pulled to the right a short distance, and, if a stencil is at the same time inserted between said sectors, the legend cut in said stencil will be printed on said sheet. The sheet-holding clamp, as here shown, comprises the housing I l sliding on plate Hi and rack rod M, which latter extends along one side edge of plate ii! and is revoluble in perforated lugs i5, 15, carried by the long bar H6 which is fastened to the depending flange H1 on said plate If]. A long coiled tension spring l6, one end of which is connected at I! to the clamp housing ll, passes around the loose pulley l8 journalled at the outer end of bar H6 and has its other end anchored to said bar at 19. The tension of spring it normally tends to pull housing H back against the lefthand lug i5 near the outer end of rack rod I4, unless said clamp housing is held in some advanced position by reason of the loose pawl 2i, carried in the housing 23, engaging one of the teeth 22 on the rack rod M.

The are of the curved face of the ink bearingplaten sector 3 (used for sheet feeding) is sufficiently long to give an initial stepby-step feed to the sheet 13 considerably in excess of the net feed movement necessary to space the lines of printing on said sheet, and a lost motion mechanism is incorporated in the pawl and ratchet holding device so that the pawl 21 will be dragged over only one tooth on the rack rod 14 during each printing operation. When the sectors release the sheet after such printing, clamp H, holding the sheet, is pulled back by spring 16 against said pawl. This lost motion effect is obtained by loosely confining the pawl slug 2| in housing 23 which has two perforated heads 24 and 25 through which rack rod l4 extends. The endwise play of housing 23 over pawl slug H is slightly less than the difference between the length of the arc of the curved face of sector 3 and the distance by which the teeth 22 are spaced apart. When the sheet I3 is not under tension, spring 18 pulls pawl bearing housing 23 back so that its right hand head 25 rests against the right hand end of the pawl slug 2!, as shown in Fig. 14. When the sectors grasp sheet i3 and pull it to the right, looking at Fig. 14, the clamp and the pawl housing 23 move with it. The first it. This will move the pawl 2| holding said latch down firmly on bar 27.

mentioned co-pending application Ser. 639,171.

provided wi h ins 44.

portion of said movementtakes up the lost mo tion space between the rear end of pawl slug 2| and the rearhousing head 24. Thereafter the final movement of the sheet carries pawl '2 I with along rack rod M a distance slightly in' excess of that between two adjacent ratchet teeth 22 formed in the upper portion of the surface of said rod, and consequently, when the platen sectors release the sheet, the spring IE will promptly pull it and pawl 2| backward and so .cause the pawl to engage the next one of the ratchet teeth behind it, and

thereby leave said sheetin an advanced positionsuch that at thenext revolution ofthe platen sectors the line of printing produced by the next card stencil on said sheet will be spaced, by a predetermined distan before printed. a

The details of constructioniof the preferred form of paper clamp as illustrated in Figs. 14 and 15 comprise a vertically swinging bar 27 pive, below the legend .next

.oted at one end to housing II at 28, and having the upper surface of its other-end slightly inclined downwardly and outwardly to cooperate withthe horizontallyswinging latch 39 pivoted to the housing at 3|. Bar 27 swings close to the vertically projecting ledge or flange 32 for-med on housing ll so that when the bar is swung down on the rear end of sheet of paper l3 and latched in the position shown in Figs. 14 and 15,

said sheet is firmly-attached to housing I I. An overhanging lug 33, carried by housing H and under which latch may be swung, assists in If said bar is given a slight curvature so that its raised from plate It} when free, but is bent downward when latch 3!] slides over its inclined upper edge. a very firm grip The details of this construction are shown in my above No. .34 is a short projecting handle forming the rear end of latch 30 by means of which it maybe swung into and out of Operative position.

The stencil magazine indicated generally at 5| is capable of adjustment so as to hold either the largestencils 5B or the small stencils I00, and similarly the stencil feeding apparatus, which comprises the slide 4| movablein the grooved stencil guides 9 and S9, is adjustable soas to cooperate with either the small stencils or the large. stencils, and also to cooperate with the large stencils either when their extension frames H5 extend toward the slide 4|, as shown in F g. 2, or are in the reverse position. as shown .in Fig. 15,

The stencil feed slide or pusher 4!, as best shown in Fig, ;2 is provided with a .pivot housing 4!} clamped to it by the setscre w M0 and which engage perforations inslide 4!. In the position shown in Fig. 2, the slide M is adjusted to feed the large stencils 50 for address printing with their frame extensions 1 iii to the rear, and yet h ve the stencil panel portion in proper position. to cooperate with the rotating sectors and to leave the markings on frame extensions H5 visible before the printing :operationis performed". When it isdesired to feed the large stencils in the reverse'position the housing 40 is shifted so that the setscrew and the pins 44 will engage another set of holes 42 in slide 4|. In-this position; also, the small stencils Hi0 can best be fed to theprinting zoneby the slide 41, the widthof said small sten- H4 on the side of the be reversed when it is position shown in Fig. 1 the setscrews connected to plate lfll,

'3 oil frame being just one half that of the large stencils;

As it is desirable that the lie in the magazine 6| stencils shall always with their index notches the single upright 64, the said magazine should desired to feed the large stencils with the frame extensions H5 in ad- Vance, andthis can be done by taking out the gsetscrews 65, 6,5, which hold the two magazine.

sections 62 and 64 to the stencil guides 9 and 99. At the same time the stencil magazine obviously must be moved closer to the printing zone, as otherwise the frame extensions I Hi would lie in the printing zone during the printing operation,

instead of the stencil panels occupying that position. Accordingly another set of holes 72, 12 are provided in the stencil guides 9 and 99,

. as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, with which the setscrews 65 may engage when the magazine is reversed and moved into the position. shown in Figs. 1% and 15. When the magazine is in the engage the holes I I, 7 I, shown in Fig. 3. When the small stencils I96 are being used and the stencil magazine parts are in the position shown in Fig. 7, the half section 64 of the magazine carrying the single upright is held in position by its setscrews 65, 65, engaging the pair of holes l3, 73, shown in Fig. .3. The twoupright members 62, ,62, forming one half of the magazine 6|, are held together by .a rib 63 (see Fig. 15).

The stencil feed slide 4! is reciprocated in the manner shown in my Patent No. 1,588,099, dated June 8, 1926, i. e. by means of the adjustable con- 1 necting rod 39, pivoted at one end to the housing 40 and provided at the other end with a hook 45 for engaging the crank pin section 38 (Fig. 3) of the hand crank l. When said hand crank is rotated in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. I slide 4! will be reciprocated, if the connecting rod is raised as shown in full lines in Fig. 1 so that the hook 45 engages the crank pin section 38, being yieldingly held in that position by the pin H9, yieldingly forced toward the inside of the hook by the spring I29. If, however, it is desired to repeat printing of the legend on any one of the stencils '56 or "it, the stencil feed slide 4| may. be disabled by forcing the connecting rod 39 down into the broken line'position shown in Fig. 1, whereupon. the crank pin section 38 will be freed from engagement with hook 45 and the sectors can be rotated by turning crank l, but without feeding any more stencils forward, in the manner described in my Patent No. 1,563,268,

- granted Nov. 24, 1925.

guides in a position to engage the front edge of the stencil then located between the rotating sectors, as best shown in Fig. 11. Tension springs magazine which carries;

I04, anchored to the stencil guides at 35 and 4 the plate 10! and finger I08 to the right, thereby returning the stencil I to the initial position for another printing operation. To disable this stencil return apparatus, when desired, finger I08 is mounted on a shaft I91 journalled on plate I95 in lugs E09, M9, and provided at its outer end with the knurled head I09. By rotating the head 699 with the fingers in a counterclockwise direction (looking at Fig. 11) the finger I08 will be swung up and over into the broken line position above plate it)! in Fig. 11, so that stencils can then be fed consecutively beneath the plate IOI while it is left in position waiting for the appearance of another stencil, the name and address out in which is to be repeated: whereupon the finger I99 may be rotated down into operative, full line position, and the above described procedure of repeat printing gone through with again. The operation would be the same if large stencils 50 were being used.

If, on the other hand, it is desired to skip printing from any particular stencil, the spring pressed pin 49 mounted in crank i may be pulled out into broken line position shown in Fig. 2, with the result that its inner end will then no longer engage the hole provided for it in crank flange 41 (Figs. 1, 2, 3 and '1) which is fast on the driving shaft 2, the hand crank I being loosely journalled on said shaft. When the hand crank I is pinned to the crank flange ll, the sector will be rotated through the action of gearing 6, and the upper sector I93 mounted on shaft 2 for address printing will also be caused to rotate therewith by reason of the radial pin H2 in shaft 2 (see Fig. 8) engaging the notch H3 in the end of sleeve 31 which carries whatever upper sector is in use. When, however, the pin 46 is withdrawn from engagement with crank flange 91, the hand crank I may rotate idly without rotating the sectors and if the connecting rod 39 is then in raised, full line position, the slide 4! will feed a stencil or stencils through the printing zone without any printing being done therefrom. The cam lugs 43, 43, on the upper surface of slide 4i lift the stack of stencils slightly at each reciprocation of said slide, and then let them fall again, thus preventing their getting jammed in the magazine and not feeding down to the slide.

The sector-carrying sleeve 31 is provided with an outer knurled head I31! by which it may be pulled off of shaft 2, and another sleeve, and sector carried thereby, substituted for it. Three types of upper, ink bearing sectors are required. The sector 9 with a short arc of ink-carrying face shown in Figs. 8, i l, and does the single line printing in cooperation with the sheet feeding atachment. The sector I03 with the medium length of arc of ink carrying surface shown in Figs. 2, '1, 9, and 12 cooperates with the entire operative surface of the panel of the stencils 50 or I00 to print the names and addresses, while the sector 203 with the Very long are of ink carrying surface shown in-Figs. 3 and l cooperates with the message bearing stencil 90 to print the message or other matter on the side of the postcard opposite that on which an address has been or will be printed, or on sheets of paper, if desired. The same lower platen sector, or anvil 5, cooperates with all three of these upper sectors.

The large flexible message stencil 60 (Figs. 3 and 4) is mounted in a sheet metal frame '59, substantially such as is described in my before mentioned Patent 1,909,910. This frame is gripped between sectors 5 and 203 and intermittently pulled to the left (Figs. 3 and 4) between them for printing operations. A new and improved apparatus is here shown, however, for pulling back the carrier and stencil between printing operations. The mechanism for doing this shown in said prior Patent 1,909,910 was rather noisy in operation, and, after much experimentation, I-have devised the air-cushioned device shown in Figs. 3 to 6 which is practically noiseless. A spring, or springs such as 91, 91, pull the carrier 59 back to initial position as before, but instead of then slamming up against a fixed stop, as in the prior construction, the piston 94, connected by rod 95, 99, to frame 59 and moving in cylinder 93, closed at its outer end, forms an air cushion which noiselessly checks the return movement of the message stencil. The air trapped in cylinder 93 can only escape through small leakage port 81 (Fig. 6) as the piston is forced toward said port, and when this return movement of the stencil and piston is nearly completed, valve 89 carried by the piston practically closes that port. Consequently the remaining portion of the movement of piston 94 is very slow, and finally stop member 98 comes quietly to rest against pad 88 in the cylinder end. Cylinder 93 is fast on cross strip 90, clamped at one end to stencil guide 99 by setscrew 9! and steadied at its other end by pin 92 engaging a hole in guide 9. Springs 91, 91, are anchored to this strap, so that the whole stencil apparatus for message stencil printing can be removed as a unit by backing off setscrew 9|, lifting strap 99 and pulling carrier 59 out through the cutaway portions 941 and 99aof the upper walls of the grooves in the stencil guides 9 and 99 (shown in Fig. 2). These guides are supported by brackets 14 and 15, clamped to main frame 5i by screws 10.

For simplicity and cost saving no automatic feeding apparatus for the postcards (such as is shown in my Patent 1,909,910) is employed with the present invention. For address printing the cards are fed by hand as shown in Fig. 12. This can be easily done because the stencil panels run crossways of the guides 9 and 99, so that the lines of printing also run that way and the postcards or envelopes can be pushed in endways from the side of the stencil runway, as indicated in Fig. 12, leaving one end of the card projecting far enough beyond stencil guide 99 to be retained in the grasp of the operators thumb and forefinger, while the middle of the card is in the printing zone. When the message is to be printed, however, this cannot be done because then the stencil lines of lettering run parallel to guides 9 and 99. Therefore I provide the card holder indicated generally at 53 in Figs. 3 and 4 for handling the postcard during the message printing operation. This holder has side and end flanges 56, and a spring clip 58 for holding a card I 19 when slipped under it. The holder is pivoted by a thumb screw 54 to stencil guide 99 and is normally swung out by spring 55, anchored at'69, into the full line position shown in Fig. 3. A projecting handle and stop 51 enables the operator to swing the holder and contained card into the broken line position shown in Fig. 3, in which position the card I I0 is in registry with the stencil 60, the forward ends of both projecting into the open space 25 existing between the cutaway portions of rotary sectors 5 and 293 just before they are rotated into the position shown in Fig. 4, and ready to be grasped by the latter when sorotated. When grasped, the card is pulled out from stencil 6i! and 'feeding theenvelopesiif it is de pedient results in a saving of v user by enablinghim todo practically all the sired to print a return address thereon) ,or the cards or sheets, by hand,-if the operator does not wish to use either the card-holder lastabove described or the repeat-attachment shownfin Cards hand because they can be slid under the stencil guides with their longer dimensions extending at right angles thereto. The use of this ex firstcost to the hereinbefore described varieties of work without buying the special repeat attachment or the card holder. l i

The special form of adjustable and reversible stencil receptacle,indicated-genrally'at 8, is located at the left hand end of the base unit; as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. As there shown itis expanded to receive thelarge stencils 5i! and arranged to receive them when 'they'are being delivered to it in the normal' position shown in Fig.2; l I

The same receiver is shown in Figs. Tand 9 in acollapsed position ready-tohold the smallstencils I when delivered to itin the normal position, with notches IM in 'theirrear edges. Inv

. Fig. 16 the parts are shown in a transition stage of adjustment between the arrangement for holding the large stencils and that for' holding the small stencils, and ready (when adjusted as to size) to receive eitherin" reversed position,

i. e. with the notch H4 in the advancing edge:

It should be notedthat in the present invention the stencil magazine is divideda'long a line atright angles tothe stencil guidesr 8.11d'93 each section thereof forming aibridge' across said guides and that these divided parts are.movable along said guides, which are fixed in posi tion, to accommodate stencils of different di- I mensions lengthwise of the g'uides; while in, my

hereinbefor'e mentioned Patent 1,909,910 the two parts of thedivided magazine'were permanently mounted on the separate stencil guides and "only moved toward or from one another with said guides, which were adjustable to carry stencils of difierent widths. l I prefer to employ stencils 'having the double frames and interleaved strip of tougher material l2! (see Fig. 8) with which'ithe platenpsectors can cooperate "infeeding the stencilsyallasrexe plained in my Reissue Patent N0. 18,151,. dated Aug. 18, 1931. In the present case :the sectors grasp this strengthening welt I2 1 at-the ends of the stencils insteadof along the sides thereof, as was the case in' the" apparatiis shown in my being used. q j All these stencils are provided with a notch' Ill in the edge which will be upperm'ostwhn said reissue patent, the upper? sector 3 or, its

. the stencils are held so that they canbe read,

and in order-to ensure that these notches shall always come uppermost when the stencil stacks right 454; The reasortfbr thisis that-theitrans fer tray (not shown) picks upthe stencils by being slid up along that side of the stencil receiver, in the act of transferring the stack of stencils from the receiver to the filing tray or to magazine 6!, and also slides down that side of magazine 65 when depositing the stack therein. For this reason the stencil receiver should be reversible as well as To this end the stencil receiver is supported (as best shown in Figs. 1 and 2) from the tubular sleeves as which can he slid on and oif the supporting pins 82, projecting from the main frame 51 at the ends of stencil guides 9 and 99, and be reversed before their return to operative position. The sleeves 83 are connected together by the cross bar at from which the depending, trough-shaped member M2 is supported. From the lower end of this 'member, which forms-one side of the stencil receiver, extends horizontally the bottom flange I23, in which is mounted a setscrew 81! cooperating with a slot in a base extension member ii, the free end of which supports the single upright Mi l forming the other side of the stencil receiver. On vertical rod 85, also depending from cross bar 8d, there slides the sleeve member 86 carrying the finger I86 which projects through a vertical slot H37 in the member E52 and supports the plate .29 to which is pivoted at E8 the swinging plate 19. Tension spring 35, anchored to cross bar 84, yieldingly supports the finger I86, the plates 29 and I9 and? whatever stack of stencils rest on the latter two. As the weight of the stack increases by the addition of stencils, the spring 35 is expanded correspondingly so that the top of the stack of stencils is always slightly below the plane of the grooves in the guides 9 and 98.

As the result of the above described construction the stencil receiver 8 can be collapsed to the condition shown in Figs. 7 and 9 by loosening the th'umbscrew 8i and sliding the member 11 along the surface of the bottom plate [I29 after the pivoted plate 19 has been swung aroundinto the position shown in these figures of drawings. This leaves the single upright I64 spaced away from the trough member m2, forming the other side of the receiver, only half the distance at which it formerly was spaced, and consequentlythe small sized stencils Hill are snuglyheld in the receiver and can be removed therefrom by pulling the transfer holder (not shown) up along the exterior of the single upright HM, after the receiver has been pulled oiT the pins 82, 82. The main frame 56, with the usual four supporting legs therefor, is properly balanced on said four legs when the sheet feeding attachment is fastened thereto. When the latter is removed, howeventhe stencil receiver 8 when filled with stencils may tip the machine over toward that end. Therefore I have provided a fifth leg 52, as shown in Fig. 1, to prevent this.

Friction clips onthe stencil guides 9 and 99 for preventing the stencils from being kicked outward from the'printing zone by any too rapid revolution of the platen sector, are shown at I2, i2 (Figsfi and2).- i

'It will be seen that the hereinbefore described apparatus differs from that disclosed in my before mentioned Patent 1,909,910, in that the stencil guides 9 and 953 are not adjustable to and from one another and this is rendered possible by the fact that. the address bearing stencils are herefed sidewise along the guides, the length of such stencils being equal to the width of the message stencil carrier 59,-so that bothcan be the stencil magazine 6|.

handled by the fixed set of guides. This feeding of the stencils sidewise through the printing zone also enables the base unit to print lines in column formation on a sheet of paper, as in the manner disclosed in my other prior application 639,171, but in the apparatus shown in such last mentioned application the adjustability of the stencil guides had to be retained because the stencils were there fed endwise through the printing zone in the addressing operation. A serious objection to that arrangement, however, is, as before suggested, that when the postcards or envelopes are fed by hand into the printing zone for printing with stencils in that position, it is extremely difficult for the operator to retain his grasp on them, as they practically disappear under the stencil guides by the time they have reached proper position for printing. The feeding of the stencils sidewise through the printing zone has, in the present invention, besides simplifying the structure of the machine, overcome this difficulty because each card or envelope can now be pushed in endwise from the side of the printing zone (as shown in Fig. 12) and there is always enough of the end of it projecting when in printing position to enable the operator to retain a firm grasp on it. The same difficulty, however, crops up when one comes to the message printing operation, and to overcome this I supply the card holder 53 shown in Fig. 3, the functions of which have been hereinabove explained. Also this improvement avoids any necessity for placing the stencil guides 9 and 99 above the level of a plane tangent to the lower sector 5, and the consequent flexing downward of the stencil during the printing operation.

An important commercial advantage of the invention arises from the fact that it is embodied in a built-up structure which can be varied by changing the various attachments to the base unit so as to develop a multi-printing machine capable of performing all of the standard operations with card stencils,-one class at a time,- or the base unit, which is simply a hand operated addressing apparatus of the simplest form, may be sold at a low price for this work alone, and thereafter, as the purchaser may wish to extend his field of operations, he can buy, one at a time, each for a price within his reach, the message printing attachment, the sheet feeding attachment, and/or the repeat printing attachment.

The spacing between the stencil magazine and the printing zone is such that when the large stencils are used, arranged as shown in Fig. 2, the frame extension I I5 on each stencil is clearly visible between the magazine and the platen sectors, as the stencil panel approaches the printing zone. Consequently any desired system of sales memoranda can be maintained on these frame extensions and the operator thereby advised, as each stencil comes to printing position, whether he should print from it or skip it. If he desires to skip it he turns the hand crank I backward far enough to bring the crank flange 41, pinned to it, to a bearing on the hinged stop I22 (Figs. 1 and 2), which makes it certain that the cutaway portions of the two sectors 5 and I93 are opposite one another, leaving an open space 26 through which a stencil or stencils may freely pass. Then on pulling out the pin 46 the backward rotation of the hand crank may be continued while the crank flange 41 and sectors remain at rest. This pushes the stencil which has reached printing position, onward through the open space 25 without the performance of any printing operation and, upon the completion of this rotation of the hand crank I, the spring pressed pin 46 will ride up on the cam surface of the flange 41 and drop into the hole provided for it in said crank flange, thus putting the parts in position for a resumption of clockwise rotation of the crank I and the resulting revolution of the platen sectors, causing consecutive printing of addresses. 7 The hinged stop I22 yields and lifts as the crank flange 41 comes under it once in each clockwise rotation of the hand-crank, but will not permit a counterclockwise rotation of said flange.

If the operator desires to repeat the printing of any one of the names and addresses he turns the finger I08 down into the position shown in Figs. 10 and 11, and disables the stencil feed mechanism by pushing down on the connecting rod 39, thereby disabling the stencil feed mechanism. Clockwise rotation of the hand crank then rotates the platen sectors without feeding any new stencils to them.

Having thus printed the various names and addresses on a series of postcards, the message or advertising matter can then be printed upon opposite sides of said postcards by pulling off the upper sector I03 and replacing it with the platen sector 203, taking off the stencil magazine 6|, pulling out the stencil feed slide 4| with its connecting rod 39, and installing the message stencil carrier mechanism and the postcard holder 53, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Thereupon the message printing is done by the operator inserting the postcard IIII into the holder 53, as indicated in Fig. 3, pushing the holder into the printing zone until the combined stop and handle 51 comes to a bearing against the stencil guide 99, as there shown in broken lines, and then rotating the hand crank I with the pin 46 engaging the crank flange 41. This pulls the message stencil carrier 59 and the contained message stencil 60, together with the underlying postcard IIO, between the rotating sectors, thus printing the message upon the postcard. Toward the end of each revolution of the sectors they let go of the stencil carrier 59, which is thereupon snapped back into its initial position by springs 91, 91, but, the latter portion of this backward movement being, checked by the air-cushion mechanism previously described, the carrier 59 comes to rest without creating shock or noise. At the same time the printed postcard drops on the table 69 or into any shallow receptacle placed there to receive it. After this printing operation has been so far initiated that the postcard is firmly grasped by the sectors, the operator can let go of the handle 51 and thereupon, after the rear end of the postcard has been freed from the holder 53, the spring will snap said holder back into the full line position shown in Fig. 3, ready to receive another postcard for the next printing operation.

When the operator wishes to make up a payroll or similar document requiring the listing of names in a column, the stencil magazine BI is put back, but in a reversed position as shown in Fig. 15, so that the stencils placed therein, whether large or small, will be fed along the guides 9 and 99 with the letters of the legends cut therein upside down, as viewed by the operator. The stencil feed slide 4| is also put back in operative position and the sheet handling attachment, which is a self-contained unit, is fastened to the base unit by the setscrew 10. Thereupon the bottom edge of the sheet to be printed is clamped to the housing M by means of the clamping bar 2 in such position that when the said clamp is pulled back against the lefthancl lug l5, the upper end of said sheet will project intothe printing zone far enough sothat the first printing operation will be performed at the desired point on the sheet. The ink bearing sector 3 is then installed and, on rotation of the hand crank I, the sheet it will be intermittently pulled forward through the printing zone, as line after line of matter is printed thereon from successive stencils.

After any desired amount of such printing has been done, rack rod 94 can be partially rotated by lifting up weighted crank-handle 36 (Fig. 14),

thereby moving teeth 22 out of line with pawl 2|; whereupon spring I 6 will pull the clamp housing II and sheet 13 back to starting position. Thereupon said sheet can be conveniently freed from the clamp, if desired. When crank-handle 36 is released, it tical position, thereby automatically returning teeth 22 to normal position for again cooperating with pawl 26 Whenever printing is resumed.

Various changes in the details of the apparatus here shown and hereinbefore described can, of course, be made without departing from the substance of my invention so long as the general arrangement and mode of operation hereinbefore explained are preserved, in whole or in substan tial part, and the resulting modified structure is within the definitions of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In a printing apparatus'having a base unit comprising asupporting frame, a pair of revoluble platen sectors journalled thereon, the upper one of which has an inkcarrying surface, means for guiding a series of stencils consecutively between ,said sectors in position such that the lines of matter to be printed which are cut in said stencil will be parallel to the axes about which said sectors revolve, and mechanism for progressively feeding said stencil along said guiding means toward and between said platen sectors the combination, with said above described apparatus, of a unit structure capable of being'easily attached to or detached from said base unit and compris- "ing means for yieldingly holding a sheet of paper drops back to substantially ver beneath said guiding means with the free end thereof projecting between said platen sectors; whereby, assaid platen sectors are revolved said sheet will be intermittently pulled along between them and the legends cut in said stencils thereby printed on said sheet in column formation.

2.v In an apparatus such as defined in claim 1 in which the supporting frame of said base unit has an upper plane surface substantially parallel to said guiding means, and in which the detachable unit has a setscrew for attaching it to one end of said. frame and a plate forming an extension of the said upper plane surface of said main frame when fastened thereto by said setscrew.

3. A' printing apparatus employing stencils comprising, in combination, a pair of parallel, oppositely grooved fixed stencil guides spaced apart far enoughto permit a stencil to be slid along their grooves with the longer dimension of its stencil panelextending transversely of said guides, a pair of oppositely revoluble platen sectors between which stencils sliding in said guides may pass, a reciprocable stencil pusher mounted on said guides, and means for synchronously rotating said sectors and reciprocating said pusher, the latter being adjustable" toward and from said sectors; whereby stencils having frames of dif ferent sizes and shapes can be used at difierent times by correspondingly varying the field of movement of said pusher.

4. An apparatus such as defined in claim 3 com bined with a stencil magazine mounted on said guides and also adjustable toward and from said sectors.

5. In a printing apparatus employing stencil cards comprising a pair of oppositely grooved guides along which such stencils are slid to a printing zone, a magazine for such stencils composed of two complementary sections each of which is bridged across, and adjustably mounted on, said guides; whereby such two-part maga- Zine, having a line of division between said complementary sections extending across said guides, may be expanded or contracted according to the dimensions of the contained stencils extending lengthwise of the guides.

HARMON P. ELLIOTT. 

